Camargo Correa Cement to sell debentures

Brazil’s fifth biggest cement maker Camargo Correa Cimentos, a unit of local construction and engineering group Camargo Correa, is preparing the first debenture issue in its history.  The company plans to launch the sale of debentures worth 300 mln Brazilian reais (US$109.2m) in two series, according to an application with the country’s securities and exchange commission CVM.  The funds are planned to be used to finance the company’s expansion strategy in Latin America. Camargo Correa Cimentos is in talks to buy Loma Negra, Argentina’s biggest cement company. 

The main challenge in the possible purchase of the cement maker by Camargo Correa Cimentos is the Argentine company’s price of more than an estimated US$1.0bn.  Camargo Correa Cimentos also said it planned to use part of the funds raised through the operation for the principal payment of a $150m debt. The issue will be lead-managed by Banco Pactual.  Camargo Correa Cimentos generated a turnover of 936.6 mln reais ($340.1m) in 2003, which accounted for 12 per cent of the Camargo Correa group’s gross revenue for the same year.